Discussion for article #241860
The sun came up. Itâs another day. The leadership mess lingers. The Republicans cannot get their act together. The Republicans cannot lead. SighâŠ
7 Likes
This would be much more fun to watch if Boehner would, in the end do his job and bring clean debt limit and budget bills to the floor for the grown ups to vote on while the children are squabbling.
16 Likes
We reap what we sow! They made this mess, so weâll see if they can clean it up.
1 Like
Somebody needs to send the âFreedumb Cockusâ a good pocket calculator.
Having the ability to cause problems, be disruptive, rile people up, does not need a majority.
However, running the show and enacting your agenda requires a majority. There are what, about 40 members of their group?
For the benefit of any Tea Partiers, see the equationâs below.
40 < 218
40 < 247
40 < 435
Or here are some percentages:
40 / 218 = 18%
40 / 247 = 16%
40 / 435 = 9%
18% < 51%
16% < 51%
9% < 51%
See me after class.
20 Likes
Boehner is one of the architects of the extremism in the GOP.I hope the GOP dies out just like the Whigs and the No Nothing Party.
GOOD RIDDANCE GOP !
5 Likes
âWhat difference does it make at this point?â
1 Like
In truth, this âleadership messâ has been going on for quite some time. Boehner may have been Speaker, but he was most certainly no leader. Weâve had the tail wagging the dog for years now and looks like nothingâs going to change.
I hope they choose the most conservative member they can find, they shut down the government, and that Obama shuts them down. Unfortunately, there will be innocent victims in the short run, but this may be the only way to put the reprobates in the corner once and for all.
3 Likes
BbbbbbuutttâŠall they need to do is bring their list of accomplishments forward and promote them to illustrate their âleadership.â Finding a new stooge to put at the forefront of that Republican record should be easyâŠno?
Following Boehner should be a snapâŠwell, considering the cesspool the Republicans have from which to choose a new âDear Leaderâ:
5 Likes
House Republicans Return To Capitol To Face Leadership Mess
AKA: Tuesday
13 Likes
Itâs interesting how much time these people have to talk about their own career interests.
Can we get a minute to talk about jobs⊠or maybeâŠ
Timeâs up. Back to discussing the challenges of being a Republican Congressman with a mere 6 weeks of vacation every month.
5 Likes
Mulvaney added. âEverybodyâs interested in a new type of leadership.â Since Boehner led the GOP to the edge of the cliff, and then kept them from going over it; and since electing a leader that keeps the party away from the cliff is out of the question; I assume the ânew typeâ of leadership is one that actually leads them over the cliff.
4 Likes
" even as hard-liners warn that Boehner risks more rebellions if he stays on past his planned departure date of Oct. 29."
Are they threatening to kill his dog now or something? What part of, RESIGNING, do they not get?
And it never even enters their tiny little pin heads, that the longer they throw a tantrum over anybody being Speaker, the longer the guy who has absolutely nothing to fear from them gets to stay in office.
11 Likes
Meanwhile, The Orange Lush, aka John Boehner, simply smiles and changes his tune from âItâs My Party (And Iâll Cry if I Want Toâ) to âFreebirdâ
âȘâ(ă»o)ââȘâȘIf I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause thereâs too many places Iâve got to see.
But if I stayed here with you, now,
Things just couldnât be the same.
'Cause Iâm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change, oh, oh, oh, oh.
And this bird you can not change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows I canât change.âȘââȘâ ( o) ââȘ
Give the Tea Potty a little taste of the derision and disdain theyâve shown you. Givemâ hell Weeper BoehnerâŠyouâre Free At Last ~snicker!~ and in the perfect position to make them weep now!
3 Likes
I hope he does; my guess is that right now he is negotiating his post Congress job. He has to walk the same tightrope as he did as Speaker. He has the support of establishment Republicans, so that can secure him a sweet lobbyist/consultant gig. But if he does allow clean bills to pass his value as a lobbyist is diminished because he will be regarded as a traitor by the winger caucus. Sucks to be him.
Itâs nice to see Ryan caught on the horns of a dilemma as well. So much for those fabled âYoung Gunsâ. One got taken out for not being crazy enough, one killed his career by accidentally telling the truth, and Ryan is damned if he does and damned if he doesnât.
4 Likes
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the Republican rebels, said he would consider forcing a vote to push Boehner out of the speakerâs chair if Boehner engages in ânefarious activity.â Massie defined that as ârunning the tablesâ on legislation not supported by a majority of Republicans. Boehner has suggested he wants to âclean the barnâ before leaving Congress so his successor does not have a lot of unfinished business.
But Massie said he doesnât draw a âred lineâ at the debt limit.
Massie is a young Bagger punk who doesnât have the slightest clue.
3 Likes
What are the mechanics?
âThat suggests that the same hard-liners who pushed current Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to announce his resignation and scared off his heir apparent, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., could throw up obstacles to Ryan, too.â
How did these hard-liners push Boehner into retirement? The largest number that people mention when referring to them is fifty. There are, maybe, fifty of them. There are 188 D members of the House, and they have zero ability to push Boehner around, because the House rules are structured, appropriately, to put the majority in charge, and the Speaker is the person who wields that majority power.
The only way I know of for the fifty to be able to threaten the Speaker is if they make the privileged motion that the Speakership is vacant, then vote with those 188 Ds to carry that motion. My understanding is that this means Boehner is no longer Speaker. But ex-Speaker Boehner could then, if there are only fifty of these guys and gals, win his caucusâs nomination to fill the vacant Speakership. When it then comes to a vote, what do the fifty do, vote Pelosi instead of Boehner? Not likely, so not a credible threat. Abstain, or vote for one of their number? Okay, they create a situation in which no Speaker is elected, and the House then has to keep voting until something gives and one can be elected. What, realistically, is going to give in that situation that puts these hardliners in control? The rest of their party is going to reward their behavior by giving in and voting against the candidate who won in their caucus, and instead vote for the hardline candidate? That doesnât seem likely. As radical as the idea might seem if coming out of the blue unprovoked by events, this set of events would make it almost inevitable that the non-hardliners would form a coalition with the Ds to run the House until the next election.
This sequence of events illustrates why no D House member should ever vote for any R to be Speaker, or against the motion that the Speakership is vacant if the current Speaker is an R. If the majority party is so fractured that so many of its members are willing to vote against the majority of their caucus on the question of organizing the House that the remainder no longer constitutes the majority, then that party has fractured beyond the ability to run the House. It needs to be either nudged into getting back together by our sideâs refusal to vote for either faction, or nudged into the final break in which the less-hardline faction joins the Ds in coalition. Our side wouldnât be voting for a hardliner by refusing to vote for Boehner or some other non-hardline R, because if their factions are nudged back together it will be with the hardliner minority losing to the majority in their party.
That said, if this motion that the Speakership is vacant comes up in a situation in which the incumbent R Speaker has put up a clean ceiling bill, and Ds have to vote against the motion of vacancy so that that bill can be voted on in a timely manner, sure, in that case, plenty of Ds, enough to keep the incumbent in place, will pretty clearly vote for the incumbent. This is especially true in the situation we face right now, in which the incumbent Speaker has announced his intention to resign as soon as he gets that clean bill to a floor vote. But if that happens the hardliners have gained nothing, and have only suffered a humiliating rebuke.
My point is that I see no way this motion of vacancy works in the hard-linersâ favor. And if it wonât work, whatâs the threat they pose? Why is anyone afraid of them?
3 Likes
So the need to raise the debt limit is immediate. The need to pass a budget is two months away. 40 idiots in the House are ready to crash the economy again (or at least run a high risk of it) and will likely suffer no political consequences in their own deep red districts (in fact it insures they wonât be primaried from the right). Donât be surprised if Americaâs credit rating takes a hit just from all the uncertainty even if they eventually pass a deal.
Obviously Boehner must stick it to the Freedom Caucus on the debt by working with Democrats. The budget is a mere abstract at this point even though itâs but 60 days off. That same Freedom Caucus has made the position of Speaker toxic in the extreme (hard to believe six nobodies want it â who knew there was a small Masochist Caucus in the House?).
Now is a good time for some pro-business group or even the DNC to start running advocacy ads in the home districts of those 40, Let their voters know in no uncertain terms that raising the debt limit only pays the bills congress has already run up â otherwise itâs âdine and ditchâ or deadbeat dad skipping child support. To be kind, their constituents are not well-informed â they think raising the debt ceiling gives the government a blank check. Remind them of what happens if the government shuts down. Attack the very sanity of the Freedom Caucus members, in their districts, and hopefully get phone calls rolling in. Fire a warning shot that they can also be attacked from center-right.
There is one upside to all this chaos. Unnoted are the looming sunset provisions of the Patriot Act. So there is a chance that, though weâll be standing in a smoking economic ruin, we might actually get some of the 4th Amendment back. Silver linings.
2 Likes
I donât see how Massieâs threat to kick out Boehner immediately over the debt ceiling or any other upcoming vote has any teeth. Democrats can vote for him and he stays Speaker. Of course, itâs a stopgap measure, and if he stops being sensible, he loses their support. But it means the crazies canât just toss him on a whim before wrapping things up.